Results posted, votes through
@medinabuckeye1 , 17 voters.
Changes this week:
- Michigan and Michigan State are each up one spot
- Iowa is down two spots
- Nebraska is up one spot
- Maryland is up two spots
- Northwestern is down three spots
It feels like we overreacted to both the IA/M and the UNL/NU results. In both cases those teams were ranked close to each other before the game and in both cases the home team won by one score.
We have a pretty interesting slate of games this weekend with a number of the games between teams that are adjacent or at least within four spots. This weekend's games:
- #1 Ohio State is off
- #2 Wisconsin v #5 Michigan State
- #3 Penn State at #6 Iowa
- #4 Michigan at #13 Illinois
- #7 Minnesota v #8 Nebraska
- #9 Maryland at #12 Purdue
- #10 Indiana v #14 Rutgers
- #11 Northwestern is off
The five
games in bold are between teams ranked within four spots of each other.
Several teams are in near must-win situations wrt going bowling this year:
#9 Maryland: The Terps are 3-2 so they only need three more wins but the balance of their schedule includes Michigan, @tOSU, and @MSU so a win here is almost vital.
#10 Indiana: The Hoosiers are also 3-2 so they also need three more wins. Also like Maryland, they have a number of games left that they are very unlikely to win. I can't see a path to a bowl game for the Hoosiers that includes losing to Rutgers.
#12 Purdue: The Boilermakers have an easier remaining schedule than the Terps and Hoosiers but they also only have one win so they need to find five more. That is going to be VERY tricky if they don't get one of them against Maryland this weekend.
Finally, this is Minnesota's greatest challenge before hosting Penn State on November 9. If they manage to beat the Cornhuskers this weekend, they should win at Rutgers next weekend then go home and beat Maryland. After that they have a week off, then host Penn State on 11/9. Could you imagine Gameday in Minneapolis for a Gophers/Nittany Lions tilt where both teams are 8-0?
